Distributed Hybrid-Electric Propulsion Benefits for Span-Limited Aircraft

The impact of the ICAO code C gate span limit is assessed on the sizing of a serial Hybrid Electric Aircraft (HEA) of increasing Degree of Hybridization (DoH). For a set of Top Level Aircraft Requirements (TLARs) similar to the ATR-42, it is shown that the increase in MTOM due to the presence of the battery is such that only a maximum DoH under...

A New Perspective on Battery-Electric Aviation, Part II: Conceptual Design of a 90-Seater

Battery-electric aviation is commonly believed to be limited to small aircraft and is therefore expected have a negligible impact on the decarbonization of the aviation sector. In this paper we argue that, with the correct choice of design parameters and top-level aircraft requirements, the addressable market is actually substantial. To...

A New Perspective on Battery-Electric Aviation, Part I: Reassessment of Achievable Range

Thus far, battery-electric propulsion has not been considered a promising pathway to climate-neutral aviation. Given current and expected battery technology, in most literature battery-electric aircraft are only considered feasible for short ranges (< 400 km) and small payloads (< 19 pax). As a result, battery-electric aircraft development...

An Overview of the Conceptual Design Studies of Hybrid Electric Propulsion Air Vehicles in the Frame of Clean Sky 2 Large Passenger Aircraft

In the Clean Sky 2 Large Passenger Aircraft (LPA) program the potential of innovative hybrid electric propulsion (HEP) air vehicle concepts has been investigated by the projects ADEC (Advanced Engine and Aircraft Configuration) and NOVAIR (Novel Aircraft Configurations and Scaled Flight Testing Instrumentation). In a combined effort the members...

Preliminary Sizing of a Hybrid-Electric Passenger Aircraft Featuring Over-the-Wing Distributed-Propulsion

This study compares a hybrid-electric aircraft featuring a propulsive empennage and over-the- wing, distributed-propulsion to a conventional regional turboprop. The impact of multiple design parameters, mission requirements, and technology assumptions on maximum take-off mass and payload-range energy efficiency is evaluated, in order to...

Synthesis of Aero-Propulsive Interaction Studies Applied to Conceptual Hybrid-Electric Aircraft Design

This paper presents a synthesis of aero-propulsive interaction studies performed at Delft University of Technology, applied to conceptual aircraft designs with distributed hybrid-electric propulsion (DHEP). The studied aero-propulsive interactions include tip-mounted propulsion, wing leading-edge distributed propulsion and boundary-layer...

Aero-Propulsive Efficiency Requirements for Turboelectric Transport Aircraft

In this paper a design-of-experiments is performed with the objective of determining the improvements in aeropropulsive efficiency required for a reduction in the energy consumption of turboelectric transport aircraft, when compared to conventional, gas-turbine based alternatives. Simplified representations of the powertrain and the...

Conceptual Assessment of Hybrid Electric Aircraft with Distributed Propulsion and Boosted Turbofans

This paper presents the results of a study into the effect of distributed hybrid-electric propulsion on aircraft performance and characteristics. To size these aircraft, a new preliminary sizing method for hybrid-electric aircraft with distributed propulsion, including aero-propulsive interaction, is combined with a modified Class-II weight...

Range equation for hybrid-electric aircraft with constant power split

There has been a surge in research related to hybrid-/ electric propulsion (HEP) over the past decade, since this technology has the potential to reduce the energy consumption and in-flight emissions of commercial aircraft and, therefore, to bring the aviation sector closer to the sustainability targets established by the European Commission [1]...